Posted on 07/03/2021 5:45:17 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A Bloomberg report details how artificial intelligence systems employed by Amazon have hired and fired contract drivers.
Called "Flex," Amazon uses AI to determine how many drivers are needed for deliveries. The app, installed on drivers' smartphones, measures whether they delivered packages on time and followed customers' special requests.
If a driver misses the mark, they are subjected to an automatic firing.
That's exactly what happened to Stephen Normandin, 63, an Army veteran who Flex recently fired. He said algorithms tracked his every move as he delivered packages around the Phoenix Metropolitan Area.
Normandin said Amazon unfairly punished him for things way beyond his control - such as locked apartment complexes. He said every job he's "given 110%," but the algorithm failed to see external factors that may affect deliveries.
"This really upset me because we're talking about my reputation. They say I didn't do the job when I know damn well I did," he said.
At the world's largest e-commerce retailer, algorithms are the boss, hiring and firing and monitoring hundreds of thousands of workers with hardly any human oversight.
Flex began operations in 2015 as a way for Amazon to get its packages out the same day to regional customers. Here's more from Bloomberg:
But the moment they sign on, Flex drivers discover algorithms are monitoring their every move. Did they get to the delivery station when they said they would? Did they complete their route in the prescribed window? Did they leave a package in full view of porch pirates instead of hidden behind a planter as requested? Amazon algorithms scan the gusher of incoming data for performance patterns and decide which drivers get more routes and which are deactivated. Human feedback is rare. Drivers occasionally receive automated emails, but mostly they're left to obsess about their ratings, which include four categories: Fantastic, Great, Fair, or At Risk. -Bloomberg
Bloomberg interviewed 15 Flex drivers who allege a robot wrongfully terminated them. They say there's no way to dispute their firing as Flex is entirely automated. One can appeal through arbitration, but that costs $200. Amazon knows delegating human resource work to machines is cheaper and more efficient.
But many of these drivers say the algorithms don't factor in real-world problems for failing to deliver a package on time, such as traffic, locked buildings, vehicle troubles, among other things. An Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg:
"We have invested heavily in technology and resources to provide drivers visibility into their standing and eligibility to continue delivering and investigate all driver appeals."
Being hired and fired by AI is the new dystopic reality the working-poor must face. Amazon has a huge PR problem in treating their workers, mostly exposed during the virus pandemic. Sooner or later, Amazon will run out of workers as its high churn rate has alarmed executives.
But don't worry, automated delivery vans and warehouses are coming and will eventually displace humans working for the company. later on this decade.
Amazon is evil. If you have a prime account, terminate it when it’s time for you to renew it.
What is a sidewalk?
I’m not sure what happens, but I’m not sure I should care. I’ve reviewed the constitution and I don’t see an article or amendment for “provide jobs for low IQ people”. Maybe you should write to your congressperson to amend the constitution.
Wish FedEx had that for the idiot drivers who deliver my stuff to the wrong house, despite GPS. And once their system says “delivered”, you’re screwed.
The Democrats really don’t even need them to vote for them anymore. They’ve got the rigged voting machines and and fake mail-in ballots. I guess they’re around now to punish the normal, productive, taxpaying citizens.
Yes, well...bunch of mindless jerks...
Just wait ‘til Amazon equips their AI with Sirius’ GPP technology, they’ll really be getting it on then.
Oh, there are always jobs for low IQ people in the police forces around the country, and in addition to a $100,000 plus per year salary, you get to shoot dogs, cats, babies, little girls, and innocent bystanders, and generally terrorize your fellow citizens. Journalism, teaching, and police science seems to attract low IQ people, all are a detriment to a polite and informed society. But they are jobs, right? So we need more, right? I'm really close to the gagging stage.
In all seriousness, there are jobs for everyone. But the journalists and teachers have brainwashed us to believe that we all have to have higher education to get good jobs, jobs that are good by their ignorant standards. Bootblacks used to compete so see who could make shoes shine better, good maids were like gold and treasured as such or they would leave, janitors were honored... All those good jobs, which the jobholder was proud to have, went away with the minimum wage. Who does the government think they are, dictating what you must pay a person? Where we, as a society, are is the end result. There are jobs for everyone if the our government would stick to its constitutional duty. But no.....
if used properly ai could help to identify genuinely underperforming people, which would be beneficial
but allowing ai the ability to hire and fire is insane
ai is a tool that makes humans decisions better, not to actually make higher level decisions
because the human can take factors into account the ai cannot, or isn’t factoring in, and often the human would use more than one ai system to base big decisions on, not just one ai system
LOL !!!!
They can’t seem to hire people for anything... Amazon is spamming the hell out of all the job search websites, begging for drivers.
Maybe, but more likely is that the scum piss off enough good people to start fearing for their lives. At that point, how much fun will it be for the totalitarian scum like Schwab, Gates, Bezos, Van der Leyen, the Soros clan and Zuckerberg if they're served a endless helpings of primal fear with their $100 steaks and $200 bottles of wine? How much fun will it be for them if they have to plan to stay alive when on vacation or just traveling here and there?That will suck for them. It is not the lifestyle this filth wants. But I hope it's ther one they eventually get.
I recently saw photos of Bezos leaving a hotel, surrounded by his security detail. He looked frightened. That made me feel good.
These bastards fear us, and with good reason to. Remember that. Take advantage of their fear.
The break rooms are visible from outside the building. Due to COVID-inspired interior design features, they look for all the world like dairy milking pens.
No thumb-wrestling allowed, apparently. It would be physically impossible.
What are you taking about? Government is already the fastest growing form of ‘employment’! The people you’re concerned about can even be POTUS now!
Sounds like he’s a moron who could use a good swift firing. Packages on the porch instead of garage, fine. But open the garage, then don’t leave the packages there or close the garage??
I believe I know what happened that day. My wife has a separate Amazon account, and she had a package delivered that day as well. She has never set up the in-garage Key Delivery on her account. So, I suspect that when the guy arrived and found her package which was not Key Delivery, he decided to leave all our packages on the front porch. Iftheir system automatically triggers the garage to open when the driver is delivering a Key Delivery package, the garage (which is in the back of the house) may have opened without him even knowing it.
Agenda30 requires a 95% culling of the global human population by 2030. This is a real, stated goal.
Oh OK, that’s more understandable.
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